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Bend Her
"Bend Her" is the thirteenth episode of Season Five of Futurama. Plot The torch for the 3004 Earth Olympics is lit and the Planet Express crew watches the Parade of Nations before going to check on Hermes Conrad. The Jamaican team had been detained at the airport, so Hermes has been called to take their place. Unfortunately, Hermes hasn't Limbo-ed in 20 years, prompting Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth to create a Flabo Dynamic Suit to help him cheat. Barbados Slim, Hermes' rival and LaBarbara's ex-husband is also competing and Hermes has never won to him. Hermes starts off the race well with a lot of cheating, but as he nears the last pole, the suit gives way and the pole is knocked off, disqualifying him. Bender Bending Rodríguez, watching the bending competitions, believes himself to be a shoo-in until he sees some of his fellow competitors. He decides to disguise himself as a Fembot named Coilette, in order to cheat in the robot Olympics. Bender wins five gold medals for the fictional country of Robonia, but it is revealed that the winners will have their oil tested to confirm that they are actually fembots. He begs the Professor to make a woman out of him, so he undergoes a gender-reassignment operation to replace his testosteroil with fembot lubricants to deceive the judges. Though the Professor warns that he may suffer wild mood swings and runs the risk of becoming a fembot permanently, he decides to go through it anyway. Turanga Leela and Amy Wong protest, claiming Bender will harm the dignity of women everywhere. The Professor defends that he's doing this "for the proud people of Robonia." Bender then goes under the gender-reassignment procedure and emerges as Coilette, passes the test and gets to keep his medals. The Professor tells Bender he needs to change back because the Femzoil is getting into his processor, but Bender is invited to appear on the show Late night with Humorbot 5.0. While on the show, Coilette strikes up a relationship with Calculon and the two arrange to meet for dinner that night. Coilette gets ready for her date, over the protests of the crew. Philip J. Fry I is grossed out that his best friend is dating a man and Amy and Leela are upset and embarrassed that Bender is acting like a tramp. After feeling attacked by the crew, Coilette runs out and the Professor shares the fact that Bender is having mood swings and needs the oil change operation. Coilette and Calculon dine at Elzar's Fine Cuisine. Calculon says that he wishes to spend some quality time with Coilette. Bender is initially aghast at this, until Calculon mentions he happens to own the world's largest yacht. Coilette accepts and the two spend days together. Bender returns to the Planet Express building, showing the crew the gifts Calculon showered Bender with, a vase of puppies amongst them. After a brief exchange between Leela, Amy and Bender, Calculon appears with Boxy and proposes to Coilette. Bender accepts. Fry tells Bender how much he'll miss him and that he has always felt like a brother, then a sister, to him. However, Bender states that he plans to use the marriage to scam Calculon for half his fortune. Leela disapproves, but Bender is dismissive of her concerns. Coilette and Calculon go on a date in a hot-air balloon, where Calculon presents her with the remote control to his heart and offers to give up acting for her, as he truly loves her. Coilette begins to weep. Back at Planet Express, we see Bender weeping. He cries that he cannot go through with the scam, no longer wishing to hurt Calculon, meaning that he's coming to the final stages of womanhood and the effects will become irreversible soon. Leela offers to help, on condition that Bender will forever return to being a man-bot. When Bender agrees, Leela states there is no way to stop the marriage without hurting him, but as an actor, he is used to 'soap opera pain'. We cut to the wedding, the crew wearing a variety of costumes. As the ceremony begins, Coilette faints, causing Calculon to call for a doctor. Zoidberg appears slightly ahead of cue, diagnosing a case of African Hydraulic Fever, an often fatal disease caught in the Diamond Mines of Africa. It turns out that Coilette has stolen diamonds from the greedy 'Diamanda' (Leela) and her lover 'Congo Jack' (Fry), to return them to their rightful owners, the natives. 'Diamanda' kicks Coilette to the ground and the enraged 'Congo Jack' hurls a spear at her. It misses, so Coilette fakes deadly impalement on the spear and Calculon swears to honor her memory with a film. Sometime later, at the Planet Express building, Calculon's movie, called Coilette, a Calculon Story is on the television. The Professor, in the process of turning Bender back into a man-bot, tells them to turn the TV off. One mistake now and Bender will be trapped between genders. As Bender is about to say something heartwarming about Calculon, his antenna pops back up, returning to his old self, causing him to exclaim that he and Calculon could run to Vegas, pick up some fembots and void their warranties all night long. As they continue watching the movie, the rest of the male characters leave, complaining about how Calculon is too emotional towards actor Coilette: Bender looks back with tear-filled eyes. Leela and Amy turn, surprised, and question him. Bender replies that they don't dress trampy enough. Ongoing Themes * Transphobia **Bender's gender reassignment is met with disgust, due to him using it to win the Robot Olympics and manipulate Calculon. *Sexism **The women's Olympics are much easier than the men's and Bender is able to win easily. **Bender experiences wild mood swings during his time as a woman. **Bender makes several sexist assertions while masquerading as Coilette, claiming that "men are so much better at being women". Doppelgängers * Bender poses as a fembot olympic athlete named Coilette. * Bender undergoes a gender-reassignment operation, becoming Coilette. * Zoidberg, Hermes, Fry and Leela participate in a hastily fabricated skit, at Calculon and Coilette's wedding, to gracefully end the relationship. Injury, Dismemberment * Farnsworth repeatedly pounds Bender with a sledgehammer as part of a gender-reassignment surgery. * Farnsworth cuts off Bender's antenna as part of a gender-reassignment surgery. * The gender testing Robot Olympics officials' jaws fall off upon seeing Bender as the shapely Coilette. * Leela slaps Farnsworth in the face. * Numerous robots are injured while Calculon dances with Coilette. * Calculon hurls Boxy out of a hot air balloon at altitude. * Leela kicks Coilette in the face. * Congo Jack "kills" Coilette. * As part of a gender-reassignment surgery, Farnsworth hurts Bender in some unspecified way using a hammer and screwdriver. Category:Episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Bender Episodes